Through Seven Magic Balls, The World Will Change

Back in September I got to see Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F on the big screen and it was a wonderful experience to have as not only was I seeing Goku and Freeza going at each other on the big screen with the fans who were having a great time as well but it was also the real deal in terms of it was done in the style of the TV series but also the original voices for the most part (save for Chris Ayres voicing Freeza who I wish had done the role from the start in 1999/2000.)

There are a couple of reasons I bring this up and the first of those was that I was a huge fan of the TV series when it was on in 2000/2001 (it also played in 2002/2003 but a very large chunk of its fan base had dropped off by that point) and I very nearly became inspired to study Martial Arts as a result of loving the show (I didn't though and in retrospect part of me feels this might have been a mistake but then again hindsight is such a wonderful thing.)

But there is another more fundamental reason I wanted to talk about this and that is about just how much the world has changed since the TV series was on air and the release of this new movie back in August of this year (I saw when my main cinema picked it up for a limited showing in September.)

This was the state of the world back in 2000 when Dragon Ball Z premiered in Australia:

- People were still using VHS players to watch movies as well as record their shows (which was not an easy task)

- The DVD format was still in its infancy and the players were still at a very high cost beyond the range of most consumers

- The Internet was still in its infancy and was still only on dial up speeds (remember the noise that came the DEEEEE BBBBBBEEEEEE DOOOOOO DOOOOOO)

- The notion of social media was nothing more than a pipe dream as was a 24 hour news cycle (though you did have Sky News but only on the subscription TV services like Foxtel or Austar or Optus)

- The notion of a global marketplace in terms of shopping for goods and services was also in its infancy and the idea of streaming services like Netflix as well as being able to Download shows from overseas was a pipe dream.

- John Howard was into his 2nd term as Prime Minister and his GST came into effect on July 1st of that year.

- 35mm film projection was still very widely in use at the cinema (though that damned yellow slide saying THIS FILM IS YET TO BE CLASSIFIED used to drive me NUTS! since you saw it so damned often)

- The world was also a relatively peaceful place (little did we know what would transpire a year later)

Quite a different world that sounds like isn't it and for some it will be hard to remember that sort of the world given what would transpire and also for some born after 2001 or in that year itself it sounds more like a dream world where there was peace in our time and all of the dramas and conflicts felt like they were someone else (hell even I think back to that time and wish I could see it more but not as a kid but as an adult like I am now.)

But that is merely just wishful thinking and will probably happen (and even if it did there's a more than fair chance it would probably doom all of humanity to extinction cause if the movies have taught us anything its not to change the future unless it's absolutely essential.)

But I'm getting off topic and the main point I wanted to make was to highlight the huge changes the world has gone through between then and now and it is certainly the case when it comes to films as well as how we choose to watch them.

Now with the advent of digital technology fully in stride there is now much more freedom to access content no matter what it might be whereas back in the day DBZ again as an example would only be on Cartoon Network at 8.30am and 5.30pm and if you missed it at either of those times without taping it well stiff shit.

Now you can pretty much get an entire season of a show either in a boxset and do a binge watch of a show be it that one or House of Cards or Game of Thrones or the Walking Dead to name as examples.

Indeed part of me wishes I had such an infrastructure when I was watching DBZ back then (as I show above it was there but was in its early gestation stages yet to bloom) as I would've taken advantage of it as best as I could and even looking up the original manga for it and Dragon Ball which was the preceding series I felt like I learned more now in terms of some of the back story and the character histories and the differences between it and the anime version now when I'm not watching the show than when I was actually watching it.

But also the nature of theatrical releases has changed fundamentally as well again coming out of the hatching of the digital age and the infrastructure that's been built out of it instead of waiting at times months for a film as was the case (the average back in the 80s used to be 6 months to a year) most of the big films come out within either a month of each other or day and date worldwide plus with the rise of online stores like Amazon consumers here in Australia can buy titles legally and watch them before/concurrent or after a cinema release (my favorite film of the year A Most Violent Year was seen this way by me.)

Although it is near impossible to talk about any of these changes without discussing the issue of piracy (a touchy issue I know) and it is an issue I think that has helped to accelerate so much of this change whether we want to admit it or not as it's rise and popularity with many consumers had forced the industry albeit probably through gritted teeth to make changes even though they don't really want to admit it.

However there has also been one more very positive change that has come about and that is the removal of the curtain in regards to global cinema and our being more aware of the fact that some of the things we love in films and sometimes the broader pop culture space come from all corners of the world:

- Dragon Ball (Japan)
- James Bond (UK)
- Mad Max (Australia)
- Minions (France)
- Tintin (Belgium)

And so on and so forth and this for me is a terrific thing as it makes you think outside of the box a little bit in terms of entertainment and how we consume it as well as thinking a little bit more about where it comes from and the culture that helped to inspire it.

This column got a little rambly and long winded so I will end it here in the hope that I made the point that I wanted to make in a way people can understand.